Asphyxiation
by Xx-Luka.Grimm-xX
Summary: Sort of sequel to Burn.  It's the same timeline as Burn but from Moriko's point of view.  So yeah, this will fill in the blanks spots of Yoko's life from Moriko's explanation. You don't have to read it, but i suggest it.
1. Sinking

Disclaimer: Again, I don't own Kingdom Hearts.

"Okay Leon." I said smiling. "Yeah, I'm bringing Yoko too. Be careful Leon, she will glomp you." I warned my cousin. I heard him sigh from the other line.

"I know, maybe Yuffie will keep her off of me." he said, already irritated by the girl who wasn't even there yet.

"Alright Squall. See ya in a few days." I said to him hanging up before he could correct me. I smiled and brushed a hand through my dark brown waves. I set the phone in the base and stood up from my living room couch. I pulled on my converse and looked at my appearance quickly in the mirror. I smiled and left my house, locking the door behind. I was definitely grateful it was summer. Maybe I could finally say something to Riku.

I sighed and walked to the docks. The sun warmed my chilled body and I got in my boat. I rowed to the islet where I was meeting Yoko and thought about what Sora had told us earlier. I always though he liked Kairi, but when he explained that he didn't anymore, I was shocked. He said that about three years ago he ran into Yoko in the school hallways and scared the living shit outta her. She was so used to being invisible to the other students, Sora made a promise to befriend her. After about a year, he figured out that he liked her.

I, me being the protective girl I am, threatened Sora that if he ever hurt her, I'd murder him. I smiled remembering how scared he was. I shouldn't have over done it though. Now he's too frightened to even tell her. I let out a breath and tied my boat to the dock and walked across the stretch of sandy beach to where I saw Yoko sitting boredly on the beach staring at the sky. I stood in the water and smiled down at her, covering her vision of the cloudy sky.

"Are you alright, Yoko?" I asked her. She looked up at me smiling, and closed her soft amber eyes.

"Totally. I'm glad it's summer vacation. I couldn't stand one more minute in that hell-hole." She said laughing. I smirked.

"That or you're happy you're gonna see that Seifer guy in a week." I replied grinning evilly. She blushed.

"It's not like that! We're just friends." She defended. I laughed at her and she rolled her eyes. "Well, don't make fun of me when you like one of the most popular guys in school." She retorted. I glared at her and sighed.

"Okay, fine I'll stop." I paused and remembered Leon. "Are you still coming to visit my cousin?" I asked her. She nodded.

"Of course. And when I see him a give him a big wet kiss on the cheek." She responded with a cheeky grin. I laughed.

"He'll kill you." I said.

"Yeah, but I've got the number one ninja on my side." she said striking a superman pose. We broke out into giggles and looked at each other. I heard voices nearing and Yoko looked at the three figures moving toward us. The silver-haired, red-haired and brunette. Yoko smiled and elbowed me. "Look who's here." She taunted. I turned beet red and looked away after hitting her arm. "Ow!" She grinned and waved stupidly. "HEY RIKU!" She yelled. I glared and punched her boob. "AHH! Child molester!" She shouted pointing at me. I turned even redder and saw Riku was smirking.

"Hey Yoko. Moriko." He said acknowledging us. I smiled and Yoko readjusted her large square glasses that you saw everyone wearing the fake versions of. She didn't usually wear those ones and I assumed she was going to wear her regular ones to Traverse Town.

Sora and Kairi raised their hands in greeting. "Sup." She said to them.

"Are you guys happy for summer break?" Sora asked. Yoko nodded happily and I smirked. They'd be so adorable together. Sad thing is, I think she's got a thing for that Seifer guy. She grinned and punched the air.

"Hell yeah! I get to travel the world!" she announced.

"I'm forcing her to visit my cousin." I pointed out making her pout.

"Ruining all my fun." She said brooding. She walked over to the Paopu tree with her head hanging low and hung upside down from it.

"You've got major mood swings Yoko." Kairi stated, deadpanning. I smirked at her comment.

"Why thank you. Thank you very much." She replied sarcastically. She sat up and brushed off her clothes. She looked distant at the moment. "Sooo… you guys are still gonna try and go to other worlds?" she asked. There was a horrible silence. I sighed. We both knew that they would want to at some point. Riku's always thinking about things like that. Sooner or later he'd affect Sora and Kairi too.

Riku finally spoke up. "We want to see what it's like in other worlds. Kairi's living proof they exist."

"I know, but don't you guys think it's dangerous?" Yoko persisted. Sora shuffled his feet nervously.

"Yoko, I need to find my home." Kairi murmured.

"Kairi, you're home is here. We're you're family." Yoko responded. Kairi lowered her gaze in shame and Yoko looked away. "Che. I'm going home. Have fun trying to kill yourselves." She spat turning and rushing off. I gave them apologetic looks and met Riku's eyes once.

"Sorry guys. That's her way of saying 'Don't go, I'm worried about you'. I'll see ya tomorrow." I told them following Yoko to the boats.

. . .

I sighed as we walked to Cid's shop and watched as Yoko glomped the man lovingly. She absolutely adored Cid for his brains and humor. I found his jokes quite irritating but hey, whatever. I cleared my throat and they parted.

"So where's Leon?" I asked him. Cid grinned.

"He's looking for the key-bearer."

"The key-bearer's back?" Yoko exclaimed.

"Yep. Leon said some other guys are looking for him too."

"That's fantastic!" Yoko said smiling.

"You're right on this one Yoko." I stated with a smirk. She pouted.

"So cruel, Mori-chan." I laughed.

"Only kidding love." I responded. "So where's Leon right now?"

"I think he's in the waterway alley." He answered rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

. . .

"LEEEOOONN!" Yoko exclaimed glomping my cousin. She gave him a big wet kiss on the cheek and he pushed her off.

"God Yoko!" he shouted. He stood and I hugged him laughing. Yuffie helped Yoko stand.

"So who's the new key-bearer Leon?" Yoko questioned. He looked at her.

"His name is Sora." He replied. I frowned and shared a look with Yoko.

"Wait, he has ocean blue eyes and unnaturally spiky hair?" I asked. Leon frowned.

"You know him?"

"He's from our world!" we exclaimed at the same time. Leon's voice grew sorrowful.

"Then you'll be sad to know that Destiny Islands was destroyed not too long ago. That's why Sora was here. Most refugees come to Traverse Town after their world is consumed by the heartless." Leon stated. Yoko eyes watered and I put my hand over my mouth in shock. Yoko stumbled and fell, sitting up in the water. I heard someone approaching her in the water and she turned to see Sora walking toward us. Confusion filled his usually goofy and happy face.

"Moriko? Yoko-chan?" he asked with slight relief.

"Sora… it really is you." Yoko murmured. I tackled him in a hug and he hugged me back shocked. Yoko stood up shakily and stared into his eyes timidly. "Is Destiny Islands really… gone?" she asked holding back a sob. He nodded solemnly and she clenched her fists, looking at the ground.

"Yoko-chan? Are you okay?" he asked her. She raised her gaze and rushed over to him, hugging him tightly. "Y-Yoko?" he cried out. She sobbed into his shoulder like a blubbering idiot and he held her back, waiting for her to calm down. Yoko released a shuddering breath and pulled away, apologizing softly. Sora gave her a sympathetic look. I put her hand on her shoulder and she kept her eyes low.

"So what now?" I questioned as I pulled Yoko closer to me. Leon sighed and rubbed his face.

"Well, key-bearer needs to help the worlds and meet up with the two that Aerith is meeting with. Moriko, you and Yoko should probably stay here in the first district. It's most likely the safest place right now." Yuffie pointed out. I frowned. I felt something coming and so did Yoko. Yoko tore away from me and the others looked at her with confusion and shock.

"Yoko?" Sora asked. Her eyes snapped opened and she ran. "YOKO!" he shouted after her. Sora was about to run but I held him back.

"Let her go. She need alone time right now." I stated sighing. He looked at me with uncertainty but faltered.

"Alright." He murmured. I gave him a sympathetic look and I gazed at the others.

"Come on, we need to meet up with Aerith."

. . .

I gripped my sword as Sora and I were surrounded by the pirates on the deck. I heard laughing and Sora and I looked up to see the traitor. He was standing on the deck above us with a shadowed figure standing behind him, holding another figure in their arms. I frowned and Sora shouted.

"Where's Donald and Goofy?" he shouted at Riku. He chuckled.

"Shouldn't you be asking about her?" he asked as he took the person from the shadow's arms. It was an unconscious Kairi. The person he took her from seemed shocked, because they reached out, revealing a pale hand, but faltered the next moment.

"What did you do to her!" Sora cried out. Riku smirked. I watched in horror as Riku held his hand over the deck and a form began rising from Sora's shadow. The figure behind Riku seemed frightened by Riku's actions. "My shadow?"

"Riku, what are you doing?" the figure cried out stepping forward. We looked up at the person and my eyes widened in shock.

"Yoko!" I shouted. She began to make a move to meet me, but Riku caught her by the wrist. My heart froze and I looked at Sora. He looked confused, hurt and scared shitless. Yoko had a look of absolute fear in her eyes.

"You're not Riku." She murmured. I frowned. Not Riku? She grasped her head in pain and swayed to the side, hitting the ship's deck.

"YOKO!" Sora cried out trying to get to her, but his shadow blocked the way. A trap door opened and we dropped into a holding cell in the brig. A horrible silence settled and I looked at the expression of shock on Sora's face. I sighed and put my hand on Sora's shoulder.

"Don't worry, we'll find them."

. . .

Sora and I reunited with Donald and Goofy and escaped with a strange boy names Peter Pan. I will not go into details on him. We saw Wendy and Kairi locked in a room above us but they were taken away somewhere. So we fought a few heartless here and there and made it to the captain's room. We saw Riku holding Kairi in his arms and a heartless carrying Yoko.

"Riku wait!" Sora shouted. Riku summoned a portal and then they were gone. In their place, unfortunately, was Sora's shadow. We fought the shadow and beat it finally. I leaned against a wall and looked at my companions.

"I can't believe Riku is acting like this…" I murmured. "What is he thinking?"

. . .

I looked down at what I was now wearing and grinned. "Sweet, I'm a shape-shifter." How did I know this? Why because I was wearing a black loose cloak and I could turn into a large wolf-like dog. Cool, right? I looked over at Sora, wondering what he would be dressed in, considering he isn't scary at all, and saw a vampire. I busted out laughing.

"You're a vampire?" I exclaimed, tears of amusement pricking my eyes. He blushed (I had no idea that vampires could blush) and hit my arm.

"That was mean Mori-chan." He said frowning. I smiled and looked around. Wherever we were, it was dark and the makings of Halloween and Sora looked freaked. Guess Halloween isn't his favorite holiday.

. . .

"I know this place." Sora murmured as we looked around the new world. Hollow Bastion. It seemed pretty familiar to me too.

"I know what you mean Sora." I replied. I placed my hand over my heart. "I feel a warmth right here." Donald looked at us.

"Aw, you're just hungry." He dismissed it.

"We're serious!" Sora shouted. Donald laughed and we leapt around from floating rock to floating rock until we reached two figures. One was a large Beast and the other was Riku. I glared and watched as Riku and Sora had a slight conversation. I blanked out and soon Sora was kneeling on the ground and Riku was holding the keyblade. I frowned.

"Riku! Why?" I cried out. He looked back at me and I saw what looked like guilt and regret in his eyes.

"Don't worry, I'll come back for you." He said softly before leaving. I felt tears spill. Was that the real Riku or was whatever's controlling him playing with me? Sora looked at me and helped me up. I wiped my stray tears and noticed that Donald and Goofy had left with him. I felt hatred.

"Those bastards." I spat. He patted my shoulder.

"Come on. We still need to find Kairi and Yoko. And I think this guy needs some help." He said gesturing to the beast. I smiled and nodded.

"Let's go get our friends back." I replied determined.

. . .

"Belle?" Beast asked the beautiful woman standing in front of the door. But soon she turned into a heartless and Beast kinda went on a rampage. I used a paralysis spell and froze the heartless, letting Beast kill it. Beast turned around and roared.

"Who are you?" he shouted. I frowned and turned to see Yoko standing up against the wall in fear.

"Yoko?" I asked. She nodded and I smiled with relief, hugging her tightly. I noticed Sora's hesitation and so did she.

"Where's Kairi?" he demanded. Yoko released me from the hug and I frowned.

"Do you know?" I questioned softly. She rubbed her wrists nervously causing me to look at her wrists. They were bloodied and raw as if she'd been hurt. I narrowed my eyes and waited for her answer.

"I wish I knew… but the last time I saw even anything was on Hook's ship. I've been unconscious and chained to a wall ever since…" she whispered meeting Sora's harsh gaze. His eyes softened and he hugged her without any warning, causing her to look in shock.

"We were worried Yoko." He told her.

She laughed, "You guys know me better than that. I'm indestructible!" she said doing a superman pose. I smiled and Sora laughed at her silliness. "So… um… who's he?" she asked pointing at Beast.

"That's Beast!" Sora chimed happily. I blinked and snickered quietly at Sora's mood swings. And Kairi thinks Yoko's got major mood swings?

"Oh… okay." she replied confused about his happiness as well. Then I remembered she said she was chained.

"Wait Yoko, you were chained to a wall?" I asked her, anger raising my voice level. She bit her lip nervously and I met her amber eyes.

"Um… yes?" she murmured. I growled.

"Who did that? Riku?" I snarled. Her eyes widened.

"I don't know. I was unconscious, but something's definitely wrong with him. Whoever that man is, is **not** Riku." She stated firmly. So I heard her correctly on Captain Hook's ship. Someone else is controlling him. That's not okay in my book. Yoko asked for some bandages, so I reached into my medical bag and gave her those weird ninja bandages that Yuffie uses. She looked at us. "I have to go. Maleficent isn't pleasant when you get her angry." She saw the looks of worry in our eyes and smiled. "Don't worry, I don't think anything bad will happen to me." she tried to reassure us. I saw her run off through a narrow hallway and disappeared from sight.

I frowned. There's something she's not telling me. Oh well, I'll force it out of her later. We walked through the double doors. We saw Riku, Donald and Goofy.

"Quit while you can Sora." Riku said. Darkness covered him and his outfit change into that with a… skirt? Oh God, Yoko be having a blast with that picture.

"No. Not without Yoko and Kairi!" Sora protested.

"The darkness will destroy you." Riku taunted.

"You're wrong Riku." I growled. He smirked at me.

"The darkness may destroy our bodies, but it won't touch our hearts." Sora stated. "Our hearts will stay with our friends. They'll never die!" he proclaimed actually making sense for a change. I smiled at him.

"Really?" Riku said smugly. "We'll just see about that." Riku conjured up a ball of darkness and threw it at us. But just as we flinched, Goofy stood before us and deflected it.

"Sora ain't going anywhere." He defended.

"You'd betray your king?" Riku mocked.

"Not on your life!" Goofy shot back. He looked back at us. "But I'm not gonna betray Sora and Moriko either." he added with a funny smile. He looked back at Donald. "See ya later Donald. Could ya tell the king I'm really sorry?"

"Hold on Goofy!" Donald shot back. "We'll tell him together." And with that Donald was back with us. "Well, you know, all for one and one for all." He said.

"Looks like you're stuck with us." Goofy said smiling.

"How will you fight without a weapon?" Riku asked.

"I know how, I don't need the keyblade." Sora protested. "I've got a better weapon. My heart."

"You're heart? What good will that weak little thing do for you?" Riku smirked.

"My heart may be weak, but it's not alone."

"It's grown with each new experience," I added, "and found a home with all the new friends we've made."

"I've become a part of their heart just as they've become a part of my heart." Sora stated. "And if they think of me now and then… if they don't forget me… our hearts will become one."

"We don't need weapons. Our hearts are our power." I finished as Sora got ready to battle. The keyblade returned to him, leaving Riku stunned, and we fought. Well, they fought. I kinda just got to watch. Soon Riku decided to be a coward- the damn traitor- and retreated in his dark portal thing. We made our way through the castle and found a strange room where Maleficent and Riku were.

I looked around and saw different princesses all facing the strange heart shape on the back wall and Kairi lying on the floor. A few I recognized- like Belle, Jasmine, Alice and some others. I heard footsteps from behind us, but kept my eyes trained on the two before us. Riku stabbed Maleficent and we stared in horror as she transformed into a dragon. I was blown back against a wall from a powerful force and watched Sora, Donald and Goofy fight the dragon. Soon they beat her and Riku returned. The footsteps ran closer and stopped a few feet behind us. I glanced over my shoulder and saw Yoko holding Kairi up in her arms staring at the scene playing out before her.

The fake Riku cackled and spoke. "It is I, Ansem!"

"Da frick?" Yoko said from behind us. I snickered as everyone stared at her for a moment and returned to the fight.

"Do you not understand," Ansem said bringing back my attention. "Kairi's heart is inside of you Sora." He stated as if it were obvious. I frowned.

"Kairi's… inside me?" Sora asked dumbly. Yoko snickered and I bit back a smirk. Okay, so we're perverts. You can't blame us.

"If you want to return her heart, use this keyblade and kill yourself." Ansem said as if it were easy and tossed the darkness keyblade to Sora. Sora gazed at it thoughtfully and I grew worried.

"Sora." Yoko said getting his attention. Her voice wavered with worry and a warning tone. He smiled at her.

"Don't worry Yoko-chan." He tried to reassure her. He plunged the blade into his chest.

"SORA!" Yoko shouted. Pain filled my heart as Sora's body dissolved. Kairi began regaining consciousness and saw the last remnants of Sora disappear.

"Sora?" she asked. "Yoko, what happened?" she asked trembling. I walked over to them and knelt down.

"He released your heart and now you're okay…" I murmured. Ansem chuckled, catching Kairi's attention.

"Riku?"

"I'm not Riku sweetie." He said with malice. She shivered and we began falling back. "Where do you think you're going?" he chuckled. I felt fear fill my heart for the first time on this mission. All the exits were closed and heartless began to surround us. Everyone grouped together and began attacking the heartless, protecting Kairi and Yoko. But the heartless completely ignored us and went after Yoko. I spun around and gawked. I was wondering why they were going after her and decided to look. A bright clear blue spherical shield had surrounded her and every time the heartless attacked the shield, they burned and writhed in pain before turning to smoke like they always do.

The light faded around Yoko and she stared peculiarly at a heartless approaching Kairi with no intent to attack.

"Sora?" Kairi asked. I raised a brow. That thing is Sora? Kairi hugged it and light filled our vision. Next thing ya know, Sora's standing there with Kairi. That sorta pissed me off. If he likes Yoko why didn't he hug her? I glared slightly and sighed, watching Yoko squeal with happiness and glomp them. Then she did something I did expect. She hit Sora hard on the head.

"Don't ever pull a stunt like that again!" she scolded him. He grinned and rubbed his head. Kairi giggled at his embarrassment and I pulled Yoko off the poor boy.

"So you're still alive?" Ansem asked with amusement. He transformed into the freaking ugliest thing I've ever seen. Again, not gonna go into details. He vanished from our sight and Yoko grabbed my wrist, pulling me and Kairi closer to her as Sora, Donald and Goofy went in Kingdom Hearts after Ansem. Yoko created a shield around us and all we could do was wait. Yoko looked frightened as well as Kairi. Blurs filled my vision and I leaned back, staring at the back of Yoko and Kairi's heads. I let out a soft breath and felt the time pass painfully slowly. It was as if time was moving at a fourth of its regular pace. Yoko glanced back at me and then saw something the rest of us didn't.

Her lips were parted and moving slightly as if she were talking to someone. I saw her hand clench closed but there seemed to be nothing in it when she closed it. She breathed in deeply and she blinked rapidly looking around. I pretended not to notice and she opened her hand, revealing a charm. It was that of a sapphire enclosed in vines of silver and leaves made of amber from trees. The vines worked their way into a funnel shape off the sapphire gem and the pendant was attached to a long thin silver chain. I tilted my head curiously and a light filled the room. Sora, Donald and Goofy appeared to us.

Yoko hastily pulled the necklace over her head and then lowered the shield. "Sora! Where's Riku?" Kairi exclaimed. We all looked up to the door and saw a black silhouette of a mouse holding up a keyblade. Riku stood on the other side of the door pulling it closed while Sora, Donald and Goofy pushed.

"Take good care of her Sora." He said before they closed completely. Grief filled my heart and tears leaked from my eyes.

"Riku…"

**Be careful…**

Again, please review. I have no clue as to if they're good or not. :(


	2. Immersed

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts.

_If you wish to find the friends you hold dear… enter the Castle Oblivion._

I sighed and looked over at my companions. I was exhausted because we'd been walking for hours on end ever since our run in with that freaky hooded guy. We slowly approached a strange gold and green castle with towers sticking out from odd angles. I felt a strange sense of familiarity to it and we opened the door. I felt oddly like someone had been following us, but I didn't know for sure. The inside of the castle was completely white. It nearly blinded me.

"Don't ya think it's rude to just barge in here?" Goofy asked as we looked around. I snickered.

"Well, they're the ones that left the door unlocked." I responded.

"We had to if we're gonna find the king." Donald said. I laughed as Goofy freaked.

"The King? King Mickey's here?" he asked.

"I don't know, I had a feeling he'd be here."

"Yeah, I got the same feeling too." Goofy stated.

"Me too." Sora added.

"Now this all can't be just a coincidence." Jiminy said standing on Sora's shoulder.

"You can't mean…" Donald started.

"Yep, I had the same feeling too."

"Our closest friends. They're here." Sora said. I frowned. I had a feeling someone was here but I wasn't so sure it was our friends. I have a bad feeling about this place. Like, we aren't supposed to be here…

Well… let's just say some weirdo came and gave Sora a card with a picture of Traverse Town on it and I don't want to go into details because he kinda freaked me out. He smelled like roses. Creepy right? We walked through the first doors and met everyone in Traverse Town all over again, except for me. I kinda knew them without Sora's help. Sora was a bit peeved about that but we continued on to Monstro soon. I heard something behind us. I saw a faint blue glow and was reminded of Yoko. I was hoping she was alright. Oh yeah, we also met this guy named Axel. Not exactly the nicest guy, but hey, he's good looking. He made a few wise-cracks about Yoko being crazy.

That pissed me off. Axel just made it onto my hate list. Ok, so I don't have one, but if I did, he'd be on it at the top. I thought about Yoko's little sister and sighed. I don't think having the weight of this Kingdom Hearts crap put on her shoulders was helping with the Ren situation.

I heard a voice as we left the fake world.

. . .

We just walked through Halloween Town and made way to the next room. We walked up the stairs and I heard the door behind us open and close again and Sora held up a card to the door. Someone was definitely following us. The door opened and we began walking through. I heard running and I spun around to get a glimpse of light brown hair and then the brown of a door. I growled in frustration and looked around seeing we were in Atlantica. I froze when I heard a light pounding on the door. I heard a muffled cry and then silence.

"Moriko?" Sora asked. I looked at him and blinked.

"Yes?"

"Are you coming?" he asked. I glanced back at the door and nodded.

"Yeah." I swam toward them and we continued on. For some reason, I was remembering things a little better than the others, but I never told them. I had a feeling I wouldn't be able to help it anyway.

So yeah, we killed some weird purple octopus lady and Sora got this weird look on his face.

"Did you guys hear that?" he asked.

"Did we hear what, Sora?" I responded. He sighed.

"Never mind. Come on, let's go." He said swimming away.

. . .

We left Atlantica and headed up the stairs. _This is odd, I feel like we're the ones doing the following now…_ We entered the white room and I looked up to the see the door closing before us. I raised a brow. _So there is someone ahead of us now…_ I mused.

. . .

(Lol, sorry for this majorly major time-skip, but I need to get to the next game)

. . .

I looked around as Sora and I were now standing in pure white nothingness with Naminé. I saw blurred figures as Naminé talked to Sora and they slowly became clear. I saw Leon and all the others. Kairi with Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie. And then Yoko and Riku. I smiled and Naminé looked at me with sadness.

"Don't worry Nami-chan. We'll thank you; I know I'll try my hardest to. And you know Sora will." I joked nudging him. He blushed and Naminé laughed.

"Thank you Moriko. Goodbye."

Um, reviews please. I know I ended the first three weirdly but I'm going back to Yoko after the next one.


	3. Drown

Disclaimer: I sadly do not own Kingdom Hearts, only Yoko, Moriko and Ren.

I woke hearing voices filling my head. I opened my grey blue eyes and saw all white. I heard strange machines and then an invisible door opened up the pod I was inside. I yawned widely and saw the faces of Sora, Donald and Goofy smiling up at me. I smiled tiredly and jumped out. I looked at Sora curiously and then noticed what was off. His clothes were too small for him. I looked down at myself and glared. My skirt was shorter and my shirt was tighter. I let out a sigh and folded my arms across my chest.

Jiminy hopped up on Sora's shoulder. "That was some nap."

"We were asleep?" Sora asked.

"We had to be, I don't remember anything." Jiminy explained.

"Come to think of it, I don't either." I added. "What's your journal say?" I asked Jiminy. He opened it up and gasped.

"Everything's gone. There's only one sentence. 'Thank Naminé'."

"Who's Naminé?" Goofy questioned.

"I don't know." Sora answered softly.

"Okay, so where are we?" I asked. "And where's Yoko. I didn't see her on Destiny Islands with Kairi when the worlds reformed." They exchanged glances and shrugged. I let out another heavy sigh and left them. I walked around the area and finally made my way out of the strange mansion. Luckily the others had followed. Good- they know what's good for them. I smirked inwardly and we found our way to a town. It was small and quaint. We explored the area and came to an alleyway with a blanket covering something. Sora entered first and then I followed with Donald and Goofy.

"What do you want?" a boy's voice rang out. I looked at the source of the angered voice and saw a group of three kids our age. One girl and two boys. One was glaring at us and he had blonde hair and brown eyes. He almost reminded me of Yoko. The other boy was chubby and had black hair and brown eyes. The girl had brunette hair and green eyes. She was smiling. _I like her already._

"Oh sorry, just wondering what was back here." Sora apologized. I shook my head at his innocence and just decided to watch.

"Well now you know. This is our spot." The blonde said pissed off.

"Hey, you're new here, right?" the tubby kid asked. Sora blinked.

"You could say that." Sora replied with a goofy grin.

"I'm Pence." Tubby continued. _Fence…_ "And that's Olette." He pointed at the girl

"Hayner, nice to meet you all, but we've got things to do." The blonde said sarcastically. I paused. Oh yeah, definitely Yoko. _Hayner… that's a hard one. Oh well, I'll call him Yoko-Two._ I mused.

"So did you guys finish the summer homework?" Olette asked. Sora gave a horrified expression.

"Homework?" he asked- his voice even cracked. He, Donald and Goofy exchanged looks and I sighed, face-palming. Of course they'd completely forget about school. There was an odd silence.

"So what are your names?" Pence questioned

"I'm Sora, that's Donald, Goofy, and Moriko." Sora said happily. I smirked. They exchange looks and Olette spoke up.

"Sora, Donald, Goofy, Moriko," she said acknowledging all of us, "there was someone looking for you."

"Do you think it could be the King?" Donald exclaimed.

"Or maybe Riku?" Sora asked hopefully.

"Or Yoko…" I murmured. Sora heard me and got a sorrowful look on his face. I immediately felt bad. "Don't worry; I'm sure we'll find her." I said, trying to reassure him and myself.

"He had these large round ears." Pence demonstrated with his hands. "And he said that if we see you to tell you to go to the Train Station." I raised a brow.

"That's gotta be the King!" Donald screeched.

"Then let's go." I said.

"Do we even know where it is?" Sora questioned. I deadpanned.

"Oh." I responded.

"We do. We kinda live here." Pence offered.

"Cool." Sora said. I sighed.

"Come on! We're wasting precious rescue time!" I said pushing everyone outside.

So we went to the train station and were surrounded by these really creepy looking creatures that were definitely not Heartless. The king showed up and helped us kill them and he gave us money for the train. Then he left. He's kinda weird. We bought out tickets and said our goodbyes.

The train ride was long and boring. I sat staring out the window and found that it seemed we were no longer in Twilight Town. The tracks were floating with no support and there were random hilltops sticking out from the haze with trees. The train lurched to a stop and we filed out. Before us was a large tower. I heard the train start up and it vanished completely. Sora laughed nervously.

"There goes our ride." He said sighing. I smiled and looked at the front doors of the tower. I sat what seemed to be a fat cat peeking inside and giggling. I frowned.

"Um… who's that?" I asked as we began walking toward him. The others shrugged and I sighed.

"What's going on?" Donald asked, narrowing his eyes at the figure in front of the door.

The one he was talking to laughed. "Well, if ya must know, I sent some of my lackeys inside, to see if the master of this tower's as big and tough as they say!"

I raised a brow, "Really?"

"Yeah. See, word is, he's a real powerful sorcerer. But in the end, it doesn't matter how strong he is – once he's a Heartless, he'll do as I say."

Sora, Donald and Goofy started. "A Heartless?" Sora managed at last, the very picture of angry disbelief. The look on his face almost made me laugh, really – he just couldn't pull off the angry look.

"That's right. They're those things that come out of the darkness in folks' hearts. With all those Heartless at her side, my dear friend Maleficent's gonna conquer everything! I'm going around a whole bunch of worlds and gathering up an entire army of Heartless, special for her." Without turning around, the figure waved a hand in a gesture of dismissal at them. "Aw, why am I talking to you pipsqueaks anyway? Go on, scram! I'm behind schedule as it is."

"You ought to find something nicer to do," Goofy pointed out, and I sighed. _Really Goofy?_

"Says who?" the anonymous one challenged, turning around to face them as he did so. Donald and Goofy gasped at the sight of the large, cat-like creature, who currently had his hands at his sides in fists. "It's you!"

"Pete?" Donald and Goofy freaked, their eyes wide.

"What're you two nimrods doing here_?"_ Pete growled, pointing first at the duck and the dog and then at Sora and me.

"What are you doing here?" Donald retaliated.

"You know this guy?" I asked, looking at Donald and Goofy.

Goofy nodded. "We sure do. Pete's been causin' trouble for ages. His majesty banished him to another dimension a long time ago." The dog continued. "I wonder how he escaped…"

"Ohhh, ya wanna know how, eh?" Pete said, grinning. "Maleficent busted me out, that's how! And now your world- No no no! All the worlds are gonna belong to yours truly!" He smirked. "'Cause, Maleficent's gonna help me conquer 'em."

"Maleficent, huh?" Sora asked coyly. Donald and Goofy started snickering as well, which pretty much pissed off Pete.

"Oh what are you laughing at? Why Maleficent's power is so great that-" Sora cut him off.

"She's toast," the brunette managed through his laughter.

"Huh?" Pete sputtered out confused.

Goofy added. "Sorry but Maleficent can't help ya now."

"YOU!" he shouted pointing his fingers accursedly. "So you're the one who did it!"

"Well~" Sora drew out in a smart aleck tone. "We might've had somethin' to do with it." he finished with a cheeky grin. Pete seemed to absolutely furious for a moment before yelling, "Heartless squad! Round up!"

So we all drew our weapons, mine being a double-edged sword with sapphires embedded in the hilt, and beat his heartless.

Pete hissed irritably at the sight of the others having finished off his Heartless. "You just wait, nobody, and I do mean nobody messes with the mighty Pete!"

"So, _mighty_ Pete," Sora mocked as he slung his Keyblade over his shoulder. "Who lives in this tower anyway?"

"Oh, you don't know, eh? Well it's old Yen Sid." Recovering some of his arrogance, Pete laughed. "'Course, he's probably a Heartless by now!"

Donald gasped. "Master Yen Sid lives _here?"_ Without another word, he rushed past Pete and entered the tower.

"Yen Sid is the king's teacher," Goofy told Sora and me.

"Wow, sounds powerful." the brunette said before we followed Donald inside, leaving Pete to rant behind us. When inside, I stared up at the ceiling with wonder. All there was swirling colors and a small staircase leading to a suspended door.

"Wow…" I said breathlessly. We went up the stairs and fought Heartless along the way. Once almost to the top, we stopped in one of the rooms. "Where are all these heartless coming from? I thought we took care of Ansem and them?" I asked. Sora shrugged.

"Maybe Master Yen Sid knows." Goofy suggested.

"Maybe…" I murmured. We reached the top and when we entered the room, Yen Sid was just sitting there as if nothing had happened. I face-palmed as Donald and Goofy knelt to the floor and bowed their heads.

"It's an honor Master Yen Sid." Donald said. Sora smiled like an idiot as I inclined my head to the old and powerful wizard.

"Hey there." Sora said cheerfully. I sighed and whacked his head.

"Sora!" Donald squawked, "Show some respect!" he scolded. Sora blushed sheepishly and I laughed at their behavior. Yen Sid did a gesture saying calm down and we all went silent.

"So you are Sora?" Yen Sid asked. Sora nodded wide-eyed and then the wizard looked at me. "And Moriko…" he trailed off. I smiled and bowed my head again. He continued to stare as if searching for someone else. He frowned. "Yoko is not with you?" he asked. My eyes widened.

"How do you…?" I stopped when he met my gaze.

"Yoko is your friend, and I can understand why you wish her to be safe, but she plays a great part in this adventure." He said. I frowned.

"You know where she is?" I asked. Yen Sid shook his head slowly.

"No, she was on Destiny Islands a few days ago, but I've lost track of her whereabouts. It's as if she disappeared. But I do know she will find herself in a familiar world with strange powers to her disposal, one way or another." He paused. "First, I must tell you about the foes you will encounter." He said getting off topic. I narrowed my eyes but said nothing. He showed us holograms of heartless and then the strange creatures from Twilight Town. "These are the Nobodies. They are nothing but empty shells with no hearts. The type of a Nobody before you is called a dusk. You will find them in numerous worlds but they will not be the only Nobodies.

"There is a group of much more powerful Nobodies called 'Organization XIII'. They are endlessly searching for their hearts and will stop at nothing to gain what they lost. When you encounter them, they will seem to have emotions, but do not be tricked. It is a ruse to confuse you."

. . .

After Yen Sid sent us to get new clothes, we met him in a tower hallway. Outside the window was a new gummi-ship. "You will need a vessel to travel to new worlds." Yen Sid turned to me. "When you find Yoko, she must not be let out of your sight when you find her. She could pose a danger to you all." He said. I opened my mouth to ask what he meant by that, but was cut off by Donald.

"Thank you Master Yen Sid." He said bowing his head. Yen Sid nodded.

"Good luck on your journey." And with that we left. My thoughts swirled around what he said about Yoko. Powers? I knew she had something to do with Kingdom Hearts, but she never showed any signs of powers, except for that shield, but that was just defense. It wasn't dangerous.

. . .

"_Yoko!" I shouted. I ran through the halls of the hospital, ignoring the protests of the nurses and doctors. I reached the room I was told she was in and opened the door. I stopped at what I saw. Yoko was standing near the open window, struggling against the hold of a nurse._

"_REN!" she screamed with tears rolling down her face. "REN! Come back!" she sobbed, falling to the tiled floor. A strong gust of wind caused the curtains to billow and blew her hair wildly around her head. She wore the typical hospital gown, open in the back, but wore underwear. My eyes gazed at the long gash going down her back, held together with stitches. _

"_Yoko…" I whispered. "What happened to you?"_

. . .

"Mori-chan!" a voice shook me from my thoughts. I clenched the arms of the chair in the ship and looked over to see Sora, Donald and Goofy looking at me with concern.

"Gwarsh, are you alright Mori-chan?" Goofy asked me. I caught my breath and nodded.

"Yes…" I said softly. "Just thinking of the past…" I murmured. Sora looked at me with bemusement and I smiled. "Yoko from a few years ago. I'd tell you, but she'd kill me." I stated laughing.

"Hey we're landing!" Donald called out. I sighed and looked out the window. I saw what looked like a very familiar world. A grin grew on my face. We got out of the gummi-ship.

"Is this Hollow Bastion?" I asked. We all exchanged happy looks. An odd noise rang in my ears and I saw some weird column of light and then it went back into the ground.

"Yeah, but it looks kinda different now." Goofy said, referring to the happy **citizens**. Yes, there were actually people there.

"Ack!" Donald quacked jumping like five feet in the air. I laughed at his reaction and heard a voice from above. No- not God.

"That's the new Hollow Bastion security system." A girl's voice said. We looked up and saw Yuffie standing on the roof of a building.

"Yuffie!" Sora and I exclaimed. She leapt down and landed before us. Her attire was mainly ninja, but different from what she wore last time we saw her.

"Come on! Leon and the others would want to see you!" she said with a grin.

She took us to Merlin's house and we reunited with everyone. It was Leon, Cid, Aerith, and Yuffie. They created something called the Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee. Aerith gave us honorary cards and Leon explained that they had just remembered us a few days ago.

"Wait, remembered? You mean…" Sora paused.

"You forgot about us?" I shouted with disbelief. Leon nodded.

"It's odd…" Aerith said softly, breaking the tension. "When we remembered you, we all realized that Yoko never left our memories." She added. My eyes widened.

"Not at all?"

"No. I remembered her as if she was living here with us." She answered. I felt a pain in my chest.

"Have you guys seen her at all?" I questioned. Aerith sighed and shook her head.

"Sorry…" she answered. My head hung in melancholy. Leon looked at us and sighed.

"Meet me at the Bailey. There's something there I need to show you." He said leaving.

. . .

Leon had just finished showing us the Dusks in Hollow Bastion when we were ambushed by Nobodies. We drew our weapons and I inwardly sighed. _I already hate this adventure._ I thought as I sliced through another Creeper. Then stronger Nobodies we've never seen before showed up. Sora decided to call them Assassins but I think they're more like Dolphins. Whatever, back to the story. We ran out of the Bailey and heard a really, **really** creepy laugh from thin air.

"The Keyblade, a truly marvelous weapon." It said. "Were it only in more… capable hands." There was a group laughter and Sora was pissed. Course, I was too.

"Show yourselves!" he shouted. I saw dark portals, like what Riku used, and saw a group of six cloaked and hooded people.

"Organization XIII!" Goofy shouted.

"Good! Now we can settle this!" Sora shouted. I smacked his head. He gave me an innocent look.

"You really think you can take on six powerful Nobodies at the same time?" I asked him with disbelief. He pouted.

"What a shame, and here I thought we could be friends." The apparent leader said, drawing our attention to him. The others laughed and they began to disappear through their little portals of darkness.

"Stop!" Donald screeched. He ran, making an attempt to catch them, but one blocked our path. I could tell it wasn't the leader but the aura radiating off of him screamed danger. "What's the big idea?" Donald freaked when he saw the others were long gone.

"Oospy daisy." He said sardonically. I narrowed my eyes at him. He sounded familiar to me.

"Move!" Sora commanded holding out his keyblade threateningly.

"Now…" the man said holding up his index finger, "do you think that's polite? Shutting me down like that." I know him from somewhere…

"I said get out of the way!" Sora repeated with anger. I looked over at him. _What's he so pissed about? Does he think they had something to do with Yoko's disappearance from Destiny Islands?_ I wondered.

"As if." The man said with slight humor in his voice. "You can talk all you want, but that won't change a thing." Donald and Sora took fighting positions.

"Then we're gonna make you move!" Donald responded. He let out a small chuckle.

"See, that would work if I were just any old dude," he said. "'Cept I'm not." He jabbed a thumb at his chest for a moment. "I'm with the Organization. Nothing 'any old' about me." he stated.

"Huh! Tough talk for someone who stood on the sidelines while his Nobody flunkies did the fighting!" Sora retaliated. I snickered from that little comment, even though it made Sora sound like a complete moron. Course, he kinda was.

The man let out a sigh and held out his right index finger, looking like he was about to give a lecture, "Oh dear, I think you got the wrong impression."

"You gonna cry!" Sora replied. I sighed at Sora's idiocy.

"As if, why don't I remind you how tough the crowd you're dealing with really is."

Sora faltered and lowered his weapon. "Remind me?" he questioned. But then he shook it off and regained his stance with a glare of pure and utter irritation. The man laughed.

"That's right! He used to give me that same exact look!" he shouted as if reminiscing over what an old friend did when he bothered him.

"I guess you think you can psych me out by saying really random stuff."

"Gee… I just don't know." The man responded. The man looked over at me and I froze. "Awe… ya don't recognize me, Moriko?" he asked. A small unintelligible noise came from my mouth and he laughed. Donald looked at me with suspicion.

"You know someone from the Organization?" he asked. I frowned and looked back at him.

"I-I… I don't know…" I murmured. "He sounds like someone I knew a long time ago, but last I heard he died and the others died." I stated softly.

"Wrong again, little Momo!" the man said. My eyes widened at the nickname Braig used to use. "Not dead, but reborn!" he cackled.

"No!" I shouted, silencing the entire area. "You are not Braig!" I growled. Sora looked at me with absolute confusion.

"Haha! Be good now!" he called before disappearing.

"Wait!" Donald shouted leaping toward him only to hit the pavement where the man had just been standing. "Drats, he got away." he muttered.

"That was weird… who gave him the same look?" Sora asked. Goofy turned to him.

"Y'know, I think he was just trying to confuse ya." Goofy suggested.

"Yeah," Sora nodded, "You're right. Only one me." he added jabbing his thumb at his chest. I rolled my eyes.

"Thank God for that." I said grinning. Sora pouted.

"HEY!" he shouted. I laughed, shaking off thoughts of the six apprentices and Ansem. I wasn't ready to surface those memories. Sora stuck his tongue out at me and pulled down on his lower left eyelid. I laughed. Sora reached into his pocket and pulled out his member card. "The Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee Honorary Member." He read aloud. The card began glowing and rose into the sky. His keyblade glowed as well.

"What's this?" Leon asked.

"Gwarsh, d'ya think?" Goofy offered. The card rose higher in the air and I figured they were talking about the keyhole when Sora stood firmly and held out his keyblade with both hands. A crown shape glowed on the ground beneath him as wind whirled and the skies grew dark. A light shot up from the card and a key hole appeared higher above. He pointed up at the keyhole with one hand holding the blade and opened the gate. There was a bright blinding light, and then it was over.

"Oh, now I get it." Sora said softly. I raised a brow.

"Would ya mind explaining?" I retorted. He gave me a look and continued. "That must've been the gate Yen Sid talked about. The one that connects the world." I blinked and sighed.

. . .

All I saw was bamboo. _Oh great. If this is gorilla world again, I'm gonna be pissed._ We got out and the moment I took a breath, the smell of ramen hit my nostrils. _Okay, not gorilla world. Tasty ramen world._ I mused with a grin. We walked around a path and stopped when we saw a man, wearing feudal china era armor, talking to a strangely familiar looking shadow.

"A heartless?" Donald asked.

"Looks like it." Sora said nodding. "Let's get the jump on him."

"Gwarsh, maybe we better look before we leap!" Goofy called out. I shook my head in shame and we followed them. A little red dragon popped out from behind the smaller rock and Goofy tilted his head. "Is that Mushu?" Mushu popped out from the man's- who, now that I'm closer, seemed much more like a woman to me- shoulder.

"That's right! I know you heard of me! I'm little, lethal and legendary! Now y'all scram before I get my dragon dander up!" he shouted.

"Hey Mushu!" Sora said happily. "We missed you."

"Yeah, well you better hope I miss you or else you're… you're- Sora, Donald, Goofy, Moriko!" he cried realizing it was us.

"You know them?" the girl asked turning around.

"Know them? Man~ we used to kick all kinds of bad guy butt together." He said walking over to us. "Yeah, you know I helped these guys out of a lot of tight spots, cause I'm a mighty dragon." He said leaning against Sora's leg. "Right?" he asked looking up at Sora. I snickered. The girl looked at us warily and Sora moved his leg back causing Mushu to fall over.

"Something like that." he paused and looked at the girl, "And you are?" he asked. She stood up.

"I'm Mulan. I- I mean-"

"Ping!" Mushu said loudly.

"Mulan Ping?" Donald repeated looking suspicious.

"Just Ping." She said lowering her voice to sound manly. Didn't work too well. "I am Ping, son of Fa Zhu." She answered straightening her posture.

"You know Mushu?" I asked as said lizard stood up.

"Mushu's one of my family's guardians." She explained.

"Gwarsh, we didn't know we were borrowing someone as important as a family guardian." Goofy said.

"Yeah that's right!" Mushu said getting in his face. Then he popped up from behind Ping. "And that put you four up to your eyeballs in debt to Ping here!" he proclaimed. I raised a brow and folded my arms across my chest. "And guess what kiddies… It's payback time." He said.

"Mushu…" Ping said with a tone. He grinned.

"Ah, they don't mind. Ain't that right?" he stated. Sora thought for a moment.

"Hm… Sounds fair." He said.

"See Ping here was just on his way to join the imperial army. We gotta go find the other recruits over at the training camp."

"Would you join us?" Ping asked. "It'd be easier for me to fit in if I'm with guys like you."

"What do ya mean 'fit in'?" Sora asked. I rolled my eyes.

"Oh Sora, always the observant one." I said sarcastically as Ping got a look of worry on her face. He pouted. I smacked his head. "Ping's a girl you dimwit!" I hissed. He held the back of his head and looked at the girl.

"Really?"

"You didn't notice?"She asked, losing the façade. Donald freaked out and shook his head with Sora.

"Not me." Ping turned to Mushu.

"I think it's working." She said.

"I don't know. Those two would fall for anything." He said as Ping began walking closer.

"I'm right here!" Sora protested while Donald shouted.

"Hey!" As Ping walked past with Mushu. I glared at them.

"He's right you two. You guys need to be way more aware of your surroundings if you're gonna wanna take out the Organization. They're obviously a tough crowd." I pointed out. Sora pouted.

"But he didn't have to be so mean about it." he retorted. I rolled my eyes.

"Oh quit acting like a child and let's catch up to them." I said walking ahead. Goofy followed me while Sora and Donald glared at my back a moment longer.

. . .

"I will not have a female dishonor my army!" General Shang shouted at me. I narrowed my eyes. _Oh, if Yoko were here he'd be getting a handful._ I mused putting my hands on my hips. Might as well get the best out of this as if she were here.

"Who said I wanted to join your army of gross smelly men?" I retorted. He looked taken aback at my smart mouth comment.

"Well your friends here wanted to join." He said. I rolled my eyes.

"I'm only here to make sure they don't fall off a cliff because they were chasing a butterfly." I said looking at Sora and Donald. They glared at me and I coughed pointing at Goofy. They turned and saw him running around chasing a blue and pink butterfly. Sora and Donald blushed from embarrassment and Shang smirked.

"Fine, you may keep an eye on them… if…" he paused. I frowned.

"If what?"

"If you'll be the army's cook." He said. I think I might have just died from embarrassment as Sora and the others laughed at me. I turned around and gave them the worst Leon glare on earth. They shut up instantly.

"Fine." I muttered.

So um… please review. I feel so lonely without any reviews. Really! I need critics, but no flames. That's not nice. If you don't like my story don't be rude and diss it. Keep it to yourself.

Love always,

Luka Grimm :3


	4. Breathe

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts… I love it, but alas no ownership.

We landed in a world that seemed to be a very, very scary looking castle. Gargoyles and darkness galore. Yay… Note the sarcasm in my voice. So we looked around and we must've been in the parlor. I looked up when I heard a very angry but familiar roar.

"Was that Beast?" I asked Sora. Donald and Goofy shrugged and Sora grinned. But our fun was ruined by the Heartless. They always show up at the wrong time. We pulled out our weapons and I cut through all the little shadows. They're weak, but large in numbers. We were almost overrun, but the doors busted open and Beast charged in shouting get out. The Heartless were killed and Beast looked us with a seething look.

"Just in time!" Sora said raising a hand for a hive five. Beast just pushed him and the others out of the way and grabbed onto a jar holding a glowing rose, then left.

"What was that for?" Donald squawked with anger. I grinned, inwardly pleased he didn't push me.

"Gee, do ya think he forgot who we are?" Goofy questioned.

"With this many Heartless around, something's up." Sora affirmed. I nodded and Donald continued glaring. He was obviously still pissed about being thrown around.

"Why'd he have to go and do that?" Donald muttered. We walked out of the parlor and headed up to the East Wing. We came near a room and Sora turned around with a finger to his lips.

"Sh!" We crept to the door- well, they did- and heard a voice through the wood.

"Oh, what am I going to do?" a woman's voice asked. It sounded familiar.

"Okay." Donald said, read to bust the door. He started forward and Sora spoke up.

"Donald!" The door opened revealing a princess we all knew. Donald face-planted and pushed himself up.

"Hey, who opened the door?" he seethed.

"Oh I'm so happy you're here!" Belle said with a smile. She picked up Donald and pulled him into a strangle hug. She then saw us from the other side. "Sora, Moriko, Goofy!" she said happily, still holding the struggling Donald. We waved to her and I snickered at Donald.

"Hiya." Sora responded. I looked at him funny and he looked back. "What?" I shook my head and entered the room.

"Put me down! Put me down!" Donald freaked. She looked at him and blinked.

"Oh." She set Donald on the ground and smiled.

"Where's the Beast?" Donald asked as Sora and Goofy walked in and stood beside me. A sad expression crossed her face.

"Oh… he must be in the West Wing. We don't talk like we used to." Sora gave a confused look.

"Did something happen?" he asked. I rolled my eyes and smacked his head once again.

"Of course something happened! Do you not remember the part where Beast frickin' abused you?" I hissed. He stuck out his tongue at me and I punched his arm.

"Yes, isn't that why you're here?" she asked. She looked completely bemused. We shared glances.

"Not exactly, but we can still help." Goofy said.

"Since we're here and all." Sora confirmed.

"The Beast won't talk to you?" Donald asked. She looked off to the side and sighed.

"He's been acting strange lately." She explained softly. "The only ones who might know why are locked up in the dungeon." She paused. "I want to help them, but…"

"Wait a second, who locked up who?" Sora asked.

"The Beast locked up his servants." She said.

"But why?" Donald asked.

"That's what I don't know." Belle replied. There was a silence.

"Hm… where's the dungeon?" I questioned.

"You can get to the Undercroft from the West Hall. The dungeon is down there." She said.

"West Hall. Got it." Sora said nodding. She smiled.

"Be careful." Sora gave her the thumbs up and I groaned, smacking his head again without giving him an explanation. Does that boy want me to keep hitting his head? He's gonna lose a lot of brain cells. We left the room and headed back to the Entrance Hall, then across the way to the West Hall. We stopped and looked around.

"There should be a way into the undercroft from here…" Sora trailed off. I spotted a wardrobe and it looked like there was a door behind it.

"Over there." I said pointing at the closet. He nodded and we walked to it. He tried pushing it out of the way when we saw it was sleeping. It woke up and began talking. Yes… you heard me. Talking. I know I should find it strange that an inanimate object was speaking but I was kinda used to this crap by now.

"May I help you?" she asked. Sora blinked and looked at me. I raised my brow at him and he turned back to her.

"Uh… right. Belle needs us to go to the dungeon." He said unsurely.

"Goodness! You're here to help my friends? Why didn't you say so?" she asked cheerfully. Sora paused, not knowing how to respond and blinked.

"Er…"

"I'm sorry I startled you. I used to be human, you know." She paused. "Until the enchantress cast her spell. I was turned into a wardrobe when the prince was turned into a beast." Donald leaned forward in shock.

"The prince is the Beast?" he exclaimed.

"The Beast is a prince?" Goofy echoed. I sighed and shook my head ashamedly to the fact I know them.

"Yep, although his behavior was far from princely at the time." She said looking morose. I paused. _Can a wardrobe even __**be**__ morose?_ I wondered.

Well, we waited for her to tell us the story but she stopped and we went to rescue the servants. More crap happened and we fought door Heartless. That's right- door Heartless. Seems odd right? Well think about how I felt. But anyways… we rescued them to find out they were cursed too. A tea pot- Mrs. Potts- told us the rest of the story. That Beast had turned down an old woman when it was dark and raining. She was the enchantress in disguise and placed a curse on them all.

Kind of sucks, right? It sounded like a fairytale my mother told me when I was little.

We went through a secret passage to the East Wing, where Beast would most likely be. I heard voices on the others side of the door and frowned. One of them was hauntingly familiar and I didn't like it. We busted down the doors and saw a hooded figure and Beast.

"Who could ever love a beast?" he said before looking at us. "See, she has accomplices." He moved back and created a barrier around the rose, then disappeared. We walked forward, me lagging behind because I was still wary. Cogsworth stood beside Sora, Donald and Goofy and I frowned as Sora probably said something close to the most idiotic thing I'd heard in this world.

"Hey, Prince!" he said, raising his hand in greeting. Beast roared in anger and I backed up.

"Master!" Cogsworth gasped. Purple flames covered Beast's body as he attacked us. Sora and the others fought him mercilessly while I stood by, healing them. They soon brought him to his senses and he fell to the floor catching his breath.

"Cogsworth, what happened?" he asked getting up.

"Well master… ah… you see… that is… How shall I say… ah, actually… mmm…" he stuttered. I sighed and cut him off.

"You put everyone down in the dungeon and tried to frickin' kill us!" I shouted. He frowned.

"I did… what?" he asked mostly himself.

"Ah… you did!" Cogsworth said quickly. Sora blinked.

"Who was that guy you were talking to?" Sora asked. "The one in black?" For a moment, Beast thought and gasped.

"Xaldin!" he exclaimed. "That's his name… he came from the darkness…he… used my anger to control me. He took all my sorrow, my sadness, my pain- and turned it all into rage. There was nothing I could do… I could no longer see the truth." I frowned. _Xaldin…?_ I asked. I racked my mind for that name but nothing came up. The voice… the voice I could place. It was Dilan's. If Dilan was now going by Xaldin, then that means they all discarded their true names.

"Well I'll be!" Goofy said, grabbing my attention. "That must be why you threw all your friends down there into the dungeon." He explained. I spaced out from the conversation again. First Braig's here… now Dilan? Is the Organization made of the apprentices? If so, that would mean that… No, the time he comes back is the moment all Hell freezes over. Then… since there were only six at Hollow Bastion, did that mean that during the time lapse we don't remember, we fought some of them? _I'm starting to get worried._

"Belle!" Beast exclaimed with sorrow. I looked up at him and felt a pang in my heart. "I've mistreated her… I've mistreated her and been so selfish…" he murmured. I felt bad for him. I knew what it was like to lose someone to the darkness, I knew what he was going through.

"She didn't say anything about that…" I said to him with pain in my eyes. He looked at me and sighed.

"She'd never tell anyone of my cruelty, she's too good." He said putting his head in his hands in self-loathing.

"You see…" Cogsworth said. "I'm afraid he judges himself far too harshly."

"Why don't you just go talk to her?" Sora asked.

"But…" Beast looked away.

"No excuses! C'mon, we'll go with you." He said with a smile. I gave Sora a smile and looked back to Beast.

"Beast." I said getting his attention. He looked at me as well as the others. "Even **if** you treated her badly- which I'm sure you didn't mean to if you did- she still cares about you." I said. "When she saw us, her immediate thought was for us to help you." I paused. "She still cares." I said softly. Beast nodded and we headed for Belle's room.

When we arrived, we saw the Wardrobe. "Master!" she exclaimed.

"Everybody's safe now." Donald said.

"Oh thank you!" she said happily.

"Where is Belle?" Beast questioned.

"Why, she left in a hurry. Something about going after this… man in black." The Wardrobe explained, completely clueless.

"WHAT!" Beast shouted in anger and distress. Xaldin. "Why doesn't she do as she's told?" he seethed.

"Temper, temper." Wardrobe said turning around. "Her spirit is what makes Belle so special."

"We'd better go find her." Sora said trying to keep a fight from breaking out. I nodded agreeing with spiky. We bolted from the room and down to the Entrance Hall. I heard a voice echoing from a room.

"I'm warning you! You'll be sorry!" It was Belle, I knew that much. Beast looked up.

"Belle, where are you?" he asked looking around.

"Beast! Help! I'm in the ballroom!" she cried as we looked to the Ballroom doors. We ran inside and saw her just closing the balcony doors.

"Belle!" Beast shouted.

"I'm alright." She said from the other side. Then this creepy Heartless showed up. Like they always do. So we fought it, Yay for us. Note the sarcasm in my freaking voice. It turned invisible and made the room attack us. I got hit by one of the pillars and flung to the freaking other side of the vast room. I groaned and held my head looking at the ugly thing as Sora beat the crap out of it. It went back into the walls and hit me and Sora again with the pillars. The chandelier dropped from the ceiling and began spinning around slowly with lasers shooting out of it. I gasped in pain as it burned my arm.

"CURE!" Donald shouted. I saw the familiar green glow around my arm and I felt better instantly. I threw him a thanks over my shoulder as I stood and hit the Heartless with my sword. The floor swallowed me up and threw my back up into the air. I hissed and held onto my side, where I hit another pillar. Okay, I was pissed. I cast Stopga on it and the others looked at me for a moment with confusion before beating the shit out of it. Soon, it died and I took in a breath of relief.

"How'd you remember that spell? We forgot most of ours." Goofy asked me. I shook my head.

"I don't know. I guess you never really forget things, it just takes awhile to remember." I said with a smile. I waited for a heart vanish and for the room to return to normal once again, but nothing happened. The dark ball was suspended in the air and it suddenly turned into a weird version of a chimera. This creature used the same concept of attacks but in much higher damage. I reached near death at one point. Finally, Sora brought down his keyblade at it with all his strength and it froze. It roared in frustration before it finally dissolved. I watched the little pink heart float upward and vanish from sight.

I sighed and chugged down a high potion Goofy just handed me. Sora grinned.

"We did it!" he cried.

"So you think…" the voice said. Sora looked around with anger on his face and I waited, standing beside him. We turned around and saw Xaldin.

"Xaldin!" Beast shouted.

"Farewell." He said as he disappeared into the darkness. I growled at the cowardly bastard.

"What does he want here?" Beast asked. Sora gasped with realization. I rolled my eyes.

"He must be with Organization XIII." He said. I sighed and hit the back of his head for possibly the millionth time in this world. Okay, third, but that's pushing it for only being in one world at the moment. He pouted at me.

"Hello~ Wasn't that obvious?" I asked. He shook his head.

"No." I sighed. What a dope. Beast looked up with confusion.

"Ever heard of the Nobodies?" Sora asked the large creature. "When a strong-hearted person is turned into a Heartless and Nobody's created too. See…" he paused, "the Organization, they've got control of all the Nobodies."

"That's right!" Goofy said. "And they were gonna make you into a Heartless. That way, they could get that Nobody of yours and have control over it." Sora nodded, agreeing with Sora said. I didn't know for sure but I wasn't going to argue with that conclusion.

"You're alright!" a female voice said with relief, bringing us back to reality. We all looked at Belle, who had entered the ballroom again.

"Belle!" Beast shouted for the thousandth time. But hey, he was worried. Can't blame the guy. He rushed over to her. We all watched with awkwardness as Beast apologized. "Belle, I-I'm sorry- I… wasn't myself." He said softly. "I hope I haven't done anything to hurt you." He said. She smiled. "Forgive me." Beast said returning the smile.

"I know you weren't yourself. You don't have to apologize. But I had hoped… that you might've changed a little bit." She said pointing a finger dangerously close to his face. He looked away in shame. "I wish you could start trusting me." she said leaning back and folding her arms across her chest.

"Oh, I am afraid time is running short." Lumiere said. I looked down at the candlestick.

"What do ya mean?" Sora asked.

"Remember the rose?" Lumiere asked.

"From the Beast's room?" Donald questioned.

"Precisely." Cogsworth said. "You see, if the master can learn to love, and earn love in return, before the last petal falls…"

"The spell will be broken." Lumiere finished. When I heard that, my eyes widened. I knew I recognized it. It was exactly like the story my mother told me. Then I looked at the marble floor. That rose was wilting and did not have too many petals left.

"Really?" Sora asked, placing his hands on his hips. "You think he's gonna make it?" Sora asked. I smacked his head. "Ow! Would you quit doing that Mori-chan!" he shouted at me. I looked at him innocently then around the room before pointing at myself.

"Moi?" I asked with feigned innocence. He cast me a glare.

"We think so." Mrs. Potts said, regaining his attention.

"Yep, I think you're right." Goofy responded.

"I **hope** you're right." Sora said putting both his hands up slightly before dropping them. Sora's keyblade appeared with no warning and he held it out as if opening the gate again- which I believe he was, as the same scenario happened for a third time.

"What happened?" Beast asked.

"The gate is open!" Donald shouted holding his finger up with victory. I raised a brow.

"Do you have to go?" Belle asked.

"Yeah." Sora said.

"Now, no more arguin', okay?" Goofy asked. Belle looked at Beast expectantly and Beast looked over with confusion, then looked away with realization. I smiled.

"We'll see to it!" Lumiere declared.

"Take care dears." Mrs. Potts said.

"You're welcome here anytime!" Cogsworth announced.

"If you hear about Riku or the king, the Heartless, the Organization- anything at all- let us know!" Sora said. They nodded and I raised my hand in farewell.

"Okay, gotta go!" he said.

"Bye bye!" Donald said. And with that we left the world.

. . .

The ship automatically took us back to Hollow Bastion and we headed to Merlin's house. When we arrived, we saw Soldier Heartless coming out then disappear.

"Come on!" Sora said running into the house. We saw Merlin getting up from the floor and I smiled at the old wizard.

"Well! Took you long enough." he said.

"Gwarsh, are you the one who summoned us Merlin?" Goofy asked.

"Why yes," he paused holding out his hand and summoning something. "I found this, while clearing out my things in the Zero District." There was a book resting in his hands.

"Pooh's storybook!" Sora exclaimed. And that's where I stopped listening in.

I thought back to Kairi and Yoko and wondered how Yoko wouldn't have gone with Kairi back to Destiny Islands. I was sure I saw her standing on the fragment of land with her.

Did I…?

I let out a heavy sigh and remembered Kairi. Sora told me that he had seen a memory that belonged to Kairi when he was floating in the darkness. That Kairi and her grandmother were talking in the library in Hollow Bastion. So Kairi must've lived there at some point. But I had no recollection of her living there. I would know. I lived there five years prior to this adventure. I know Yoko was there with me, she left with our family when we moved. But Kairi wasn't coming to mind.

"Moriko?" Goofy asked. "Are you alright?" I looked at Goofy and smiled weakly.

"Yeah, I'm just thinking." I said placing a hand on my hip and running the other hand through my hair. I suppose I was acting a little skittish. I didn't want another run in with more people from our past. I wasn't ready to confront them.

Donald's quack of fear brought me out of my stupor and I ran outside to kick some Heartless ass. Sora came out moments later, keyblade drawn. We finished off the little buggers and went back inside. The book was marred and Sora went to go check things out. I sat down and saw Merlin enter the room. I gave him a grim smile.

. . .

We landed in what we thought was Olympus Coliseum, but everything was so dark and creepy.

"Are you sure this is the Coliseum?" Goofy asked as we walked around. Donald moved forward and pointed.

"It's that way!" he declared pointing at a shining staircase leading upward.

"Oh… guess we were a little off." Sora said. I gave him a pointed look.

"A little?" I asked him. He sent a glare my way and we heard a woman scream. We turned around and saw a woman being chased by dog-like Heartless.

"Heartless!" Sora shouted. I rolled my eyes.

"No duh. I kinda figured." I retorted, drawing my weapon. We ran to the woman's aide and killed the Heartless. I watched the little hearts float up and disappear. Sora leaned over holding out his hand to her and she sat up.

"Thanks but I'm fine." She said holding her head in one hand. She looked up at Sora and stood up. Sora straightened out and we watched her brush off her dress. I looked at the woman and frowned. Kinda bitchy if you ask me. I mean, someone comes to your rescue and tries to help you and you give them a dirty look. Bitch~y. I sighed. She looked at us and folded her arms across her chest.

"And you're supposed to be?" she asked. I glared.

"I'm Sora, he's Donald, that's Goofy and she's-"

"Moriko." I said icily. Sora looked at me with confusion and shrugged.

"We came to see how Hercules is doing." Sora continued. She examined each of us separately before speaking.

"You know Wonderboy?" she asked with disbelief. I continued glaring at her.

"Yeah! Cause we're heroes too!" Donald declared. I rolled my eyes. Goofy laughed.

"Ya mean junior heroes Donald." Goofy said into Donald's ear. I smirked. The woman laughed.

"Looks like we have a friend in common." She said. "Name's Megara. My friends call me Meg." She said. I turned around, mocking what she said with irritation. I don't get why I still didn't like her, but let's just say, something's off about her.

"So how's Herc?" Sora asked.

"Wonderboy? Well, he's duking it out at the Coliseum every day. You know, 'a hero's work is never done' and all that. He's ready to drop, but he keeps on fighting. Even Wonderboy has his limits, though. These opponents are bad news- special deliveries from Hades himself…" She explained.

"Hades!" Donald quacked.

"Right. Lord of the Underworld. I was on my way to see him." Meg said nodding. I scoffed. _Like she could handle the lord of the Underworld._ I inwardly smirked. "Maybe I can get Hades to give Wonderboy a breather. If anything happened to that kid…" she trailed off.

"Gwarsh… Sounds like you're more than just friends!" Goofy pointed out. I looked at Goofy and wondered if he understood the definition of secret. Megara got a startled look.

"Oh… uh, I mean…"

"We'll go have a little talk with Hades." Sora said. I sighed. He was right. I'd go along with it, but only for Herc's sake. "I'd hate for anything to happen to you on your way to see him."

"You really want to do that? Well, it looks like you know what you're doing. I guess I'll take you up on that offer. But… let's keep this whole chat-with-Hades thing our little secret, okay?"

"Our lips are sealed." Sora said with Donald and Goofy nodded. I rolled my eyes and began walking toward the door the Heartless came from. We walked through the corridors and I saw something move in front of us. A tall lanky man in a black hooded cloak.

"The Organization!" Donald screeched as he ran by and out of our sight.

"Yeah." Sora agreed. We ran after the guy and made it to another large cavernous room. I looked ahead of us and saw the guy running straight for us.

Sora readied his blade but the guy passed right by him. "Run! Run away!" he shouted before disappearing through a corridor of darkness. Sora and I shared a glance and Sora tilted his head.

"Okay…?" he asked. I busted out laughing.

"Man, that guy was a wimp!" I cried out falling over. Sora gave me an "are-you-really-laughing-at-a-time-like-this look". I pouted and cleared my throat, standing up. We ran into the crevice with a glowing green light and I saw we were up high by where the river Styx ended. We looked around and Donald made the most frightened noise I'd ever heard him make.

"I'm scared too Donald." Goofy said. I looked over the edge of the narrow pathway and saw the souls floating around in agony and suffering, moaning. I shivered involuntarily and looked ahead at the skull shaped room up ahead. Sora walked up and shouted. "Hades, come out!" he commanded. I hit his head for the umpteenth time.

He gave me a cold glare. I returned it at the negative level. "Do you have a friggin' death wish?" I whispered harshly. He scoffed and looked away from me. My eyes widened in shock. Did that boy actually ignore me and not make a stupid face or comeback? Everyone run for your lives! It's a sign of the apocalypse! We continued up and ran into the skull room to see some guy attempting to attack Hades.

"Hades!" Donald shouted. He looked over at us.

"You again?" The guy hit Hades against a wall and looked at us.

"Fight!" he commanded. I glared. No one orders me around and I mean no one! But… seeing as Hades is the guy we need to deal with… eh might as well. Hades knocked over the guy and Sora went to his aide.

"Get up!" Sora shouted holding his Keyblade against Hades. I sighed and we tried attacking him but nothing worked. We back up and Donald spoke. "Something's wrong!" he declared.

"Well obviously!" I hissed.

"I feel kinda funny." Sora said weakly.

"That's right! See, that's the thing. In the Underworld, heroes are zeros- comes with the territory." He explained before coming at us. The man deflected the attack and looked back at us.

"Go now!" he shouted.

"But I gotta talk to Hades!" Sora protested. I deadpanned. Really Sora? Really? At a time like this? This boy is an idiot.

"What was that?" Hades asked with his ears plugged.

"Bastard." I muttered.

"We can't fight him here! We have to go- now!" the man commanded as Hades conjured up more fireballs. Sora nodded and we ran outside.

. . .

So the guy's name is Auron and he's an oddball. I don't like him much, but he saved our lives.

"I'm no hero… I'm just an…" he paused. Sora looked up at the man. "Auron." He said.

"Huh?"

"My name." he replied.

"I'm Sora."

"Donald."

"Goofy." Sora collapsed under their weight and I smirked meeting the man's eyes.

"Moriko."

"It seems we were fated to meet. Maybe you need a guardian." He said.

So we ran for the doors we came in from and saw they were locked. Sora lifted his keyblade an unlocked the locks. We ran through but I saw Cerberus coming straight for us. Auron stayed behind and raised his sword. Sora saw this and stayed behind as well. The doors began closing again.

"Sora wait!" Donald cried. We watched the fight and soon Cerberus fell and they ran through as Goofy and Donald closed the door. We looked around and Auron was gone.

"Where'd he go?"

"He can take care of himself." Sora stated. I rolled my eyes.

So after a lovely reunion with Hercules and an explanation of needing the Olympus Stone to fight in the Underworld, we found out it was stolen. Perfect right? Note my friggin sarcasm.

"Sorry guys, the Olympus Stone has been stolen." Herc said.

"What?" Sora and I freaked.

"By who?" Goofy asked.

"We don't know who did it yet. All we're sure of is that it was a guy in a black-hooded coat." Herc said. We shared glances and nodded. "Someone you know?" Hercules questioned.

"I think so." Sora answered. "Hey, if we get the stone back, can we borrow it for a while?" Sora asked.

"Sure. By the way, you haven't seen Meg around, have you?" We shook our heads. "Oh… okay." he responded solemnly.

"What's wrong your hero-ness? Feeling under the weather?" a familiar voice asked. We looked up and saw Hades. I stepped away, fearing to be hit by a fireball. "You know, I thought staying in perfect shape was part of the hero job description, you know what I'm saying?"

"Oh! Right." Sora said remembering. "Hades, we gotta talk!" Sora shouted. I sighed and face-palmed. I nearly fell over in laughter when Hades flicked his forehead, causing Sora to fall over.

"I came here to share a bit of mildly-interesting news: Seems your dear, sweet little Nutmeg went and got herself lost in the Underworld."

"You mean you kidnapped her!" Hercules shouted.

"Well, maybe… but why get caught up in the details?" Hercules whistled and a Pegasus came flying down to him. "Ah ah ah. You can't leave now, okay? You've got a very important match today, against, um… the bloodthirsty Hydra! I mean, if you don't stick around, who knows what kind of "accidents" might happen."

"Yeah, accidents you cause." Sora protested. I rolled my eyes.

"Like I said: details, who needs 'em?" he replied dismissing it with a wave of his hand.

"You're just a coward!" Hercules shouted.

"Ah well. Can't all be heroes." He said disappearing in a puff of smoke.

. . .

So we went on a little adventure to save Megara. Yay… not. It's not like I hate her… more like a strong dislike. We made it to the Atrium of the Underworld and ran into the lovely Organization member.

He heard us walking toward him. "Ah! You!" he cried pulling down his hood. I expected to see a familiar face, but I didn't recognize the voice or face. "Wait a sec…" he said pointing a finger at Sora. "Roxas?" he asked.

"Excuse me?" Sora responded.

"Roxas?" the man repeated before sighing. "Oh, it's no use." He said with a pout. He was quite adorable.

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Sora questioned leaning in. The man reached into a pocket and pulled out paper.

"Let's see here…" he said reading. _He took notes? What a horrible villain._ I mused. "'If the subject fails to respond, use aggression to liberate his true disposition'… Right. Did they ever pick the wrong guy for this one…" he said putting away the paper.

"You're bizarre." Sora said. The man held out the Olympus Stone.

"Ah!" Sora shouted.

"He's gotta be the thief!"

"Now that's just plain rude!" he said holding up the stone. A sitar appeared in his hands and water clones of himself began attacking us. I drew my sword and started slashing through them, one by one. After defeating them, the man rubbed his shoulder in pain- no doubt from using too much energy.

"Roxas…" he whined. "Come back to us!" he pleaded before vanishing through a corridor of darkness. I lowered my weapon and stared at the spot he'd been in.

"Now that… that was weird." I stated.

"Guy's a broken record." Sora said.

"Hey, look!" Donald quacked. He picked up the stone and gave it to Sora. Sora held it up and in flashes of light our strength and powers were restored.

"Let's go! Meg needs our help!" Sora said running to the door. I rolled my eyes.

"Oh I'll give her help." I muttered.

Yep yep. Reviews please. I would like some, though no one has. But no flames. If you hate it, keep it to yourself.

:3

Luka Grimm


	5. Breaking

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, any of them. But they're awesome.

I stared up at the rising smoke in Hollow Bastion, which was now back to Radiant Garden, and looked at the others. "What is that?" I questioned. Sora, Donald and Goofy shrugged and I sighed as we made our way to Merlin's house. We met up with Leon, whom had just returned to the house, and spoke.

"So what's with the smoke Leon?" Sora asked him, now sitting in the chairs in the living room. Leon sighed rubbing his temple.

"That would be Yoko."

"Yoko's here?" Sora exclaimed. A heavy weight lifted off my heart and I smiled.

"Where is she?" Goofy asked.

Leon shook his head. "You can't go see her, not like this." He paused. "There's something wrong with her. She keeps talking to Ren and I feel something wrong with her sanity. I'm not sure, but you guys seeing her right now would most likely not end well." He explained. I frowned. Ren?

"She's talking to Ren again? I thought it stopped a while ago." I queried. Leon shrugged.

"I'm not sure."

"Wait, who's Ren?" Sora asked. My frown softened and Leon stayed silent.

"Mori-chan?" Goofy looked at me expectantly. I sighed.

"Ren was Yoko's little sister. A couple years ago, Ren and Yoko were returning home from somewhere and some guy tried to mug them. Yoko fought back, which got her a scar on her back, all along her spine, and she was found lying on Ren's bloodied body, crying." I paused to clear my throat. "Ren had been stabbed repeatedly. We don't know exactly what happened. Yoko never told anyone. But ever since then, Yoko had been hallucinating Ren as though she was still alive and aging. I thought it stopped a year ago. But I guess I was wrong." Sora's eyes were wide and Donald and Goofy stared at the ground in silence. They never knew Yoko but they felt sympathy for her.

I put a hand on Sora's shoulder. "Don't take it so harshly. I'm practically the only one she told. So don't mention you know around her…" He sighed and nodded.

"Alright, let's get going." He said in a depressed state. I watched him walk away, shoulders slumped and head low. I smiled and shook my head.

"He's definitely a handful." I murmured.

"You're telling us." Donald responded. I grinned at my feathered companion. Goofy laughed and we caught up to Sora.

"Sora! You're forgetting the number one rule!" Donald shouted. Sora raised a brow in confusion.

"Happy faces!" Donald and Goofy cried out together while I made a silly face at him. Sora gave us a saddened smile, but a smile nonetheless.

"Alright! Let's go kick some Xemnas ass!" I shouted, punching the air. They laughed at me and we left the world smiling again.

. . .

I looked around the dark world, this itching feeling crawling up my back. I shivered as we fought the unending amounts of Heartless until we arrived at the Brink of Despair. I sighed and we walked up the bridge thing. We made it to the Hall of Empty Melodies and we were met by an unwanted presence.

"Sora, you've done well." Saïx said from above us on a balcony.

"Where's Kairi?" Sora demanded. I was a bit irritated by this but hey, we knew were Yoko was already and that she's safe. Of course we should be worried about Kairi now.

"Who knows, I expect she's catching up with her friend from the darkness." Saïx responded.

"What do you mean?" Sora cried out. I frowned. Friend from the darkness? I gasped. _Could he mean…?_

"She doesn't need you anymore." Saïx stated.

"We're supposed to believe that?" I spat.

"Well you don't have to… But you can believe this. Organization XIII has no further use for you." He stated. "Just look there…" he pointed out the window. "Our Kingdom Hearts. Thanks to you we've collected countless hearts… Can you hear their euphoria?" I glared at the man before feeling a strange pain in my head. I heard a roar of voices, questioning what was happening. Saïx chuckled looking at me. "She obviously can." He snapped his fingers and thousands of shadow heartless appeared, crawling toward fresh beating hearts.

I backed away clutching my hilt tightly.

"We have to fight!" I shouted.

Sora looked at me, "But- Kingdom Hearts…"

"Sora!" a different female voice cried out from above. Obviously, it wasn't me. We all looked up to see Kairi. "Sora! It's really you!" she said happily.

I pouted. "What about me?" I muttered looking away. Goofy patted my shoulder laughing.

"Kairi!" Sora shouted before some Heartless tackled him to the ground. I laughed slightly before cutting the Heartless away. I watched Kairi leap off the balcony to us and I blinked in shock. That balcony was pretty high up. And then she was tackled to the ground by Heartless. I deadpanned as I went to go help her. But before I could, a clone of Xehanort's Heartless did. I stared at the dark-skinned man. Familiarity running through my mind. Whoever this was, they weren't evil, though they were close to the darkness. Darkness. Friend from the darkness. Then it hit me like a ton of bricks. (I've always wanted to say that.)

"Riku…" I murmured. He looked at me with wide eyes, before turning away with shame. He summoned a really girly looking keyblade and handed it to Kairi.

"This time I'll fight." She said determinedly. I glanced back at Riku and felt a wave of relief in my head and heart. He was okay. Ugly, but okay. Hey, I'm not that shallow. Kairi charged the Heartless and Riku followed her lead. Sora got up and looked at the lower balcony Kairi was on.

"What's going on?" he asked. A small purple blade hit the ground near him and I looked from the point of origin. Many more came flying down at us and I blocked my body with my sword.

"Have you two been good?" the familiar voice asked.

"Braig?" I exclaimed. He gave me a disappointed look.

"Awe, I was hoping you wouldn't be here Mo-mo." He said waving a finger back and forth. I gave him a hard look and he laughed. "Now don't be giving me nasty looks missy. I may just have to hurt you." He stated. Sora glared at him.

"We're not gonna let ya!" Goofy shouted at the Nobody of Braig. I smiled at them and nodded taking my fighting stance with my sword in my hands. We fought Xigbar- Braig- until he was finally beat.

"Well, I guess is 'goodbye' little Mo-mo." He said breathily laughing. I fought back the urge to cry over the now dying remnant of the man whom I used to know. He saluted me and disappeared in the black tendrils dissolving into nothingness. I let out a shaky sigh and we continued on. We made it up to the lower balcony and saw Kairi and Riku.

"Kairi, you were great!" Donald exclaimed. I pouted.

"Beginner's luck." I muttered, causing Riku to look at me. Kairi looked back at us and did a stupid girly hair flip before walking over to Sora and hugging him. I gagged at the reunion and locked my gaze on Riku as he began walking away. I held onto his sleeve, receiving images of his normal self, and looked into his current orange eyes. "Please don't go…" I whispered hoarsely.

"Ansem." Sora called out. Riku continued to look at me. "I mean Xehanort's Heartless… I never thought for a second I'd see **you** again. Just thinking about all the things you did makes me really mad. But… But you saved Kairi, right? I have to be grateful for that. Thanks." He said. Riku had "despair" written all over his face and mostly his eyes. He tried to leave again and I held onto the sleeve tighter.

"Riku, please don't… don't go." I cried hugging him. The others behind me started in confusion.

"Huh?" they chorused.

"Moriko, what did you just say?"

"He's Riku, Sora." I said with tears running down my face and a smile stretched thinly. "Are you that much of a doofus to realize it?" I laughed-sobbed. Riku looked away.

"I'm no one. Just a cast away from the darkness." He said.

"Sora, say something to him!" Kairi commanded. Sora walked over to us and I put Sora's hand on top of Riku's. Then Sora had a minor emotional break-down. Our friends were reunited now, but not yet completely. There was still the issue of Yoko. Kairi looked at me with a questioning look.

"Where's Yoko?" she asked as we walked into a strange room. I lowered my eyes.

"She's in Radiant Garden. But… something's wrong with her." I answered causing Riku to look at me. Sora's head hung and he sighed. I looked up and saw two different glowing portals.

"Wait, what do you mean something's wrong with her?" Riku questioned.

"She's seeing her little sister again. I had thought she stopped but… apparently not.

"Who's Ren?" Kairi questioned.

"She was Yoko's sister."

"Was? She died?"

"Before any of you met Yoko. She told me that she was still able to see Ren and that she aged as well." I explained. There was a silence.

"Well, let's not worry about that right now. First we need to get rid of Xemnas." Sora said determinedly. I smiled at him. I sniffled. My little boy was growing up.

. . .

I watched as Ansem the Wise disappeared from the explosion. "Ansem!" I cried out. I had become close friends with the man in Yoko's and my time in Radiant Gardens as kids. He was kind and caring even though now he was corrupted by thoughts of revenge.

'**Moriko… you need to be wary in the battle ahead. I'm sorry that you will have to learn of me from this horrible nothing, but I was planning to reveal myself to you later in your life.**' A voice said in my head. I frowned. What? We ran up toward the top, but I paused looking out at the city. There were plumes of smoke and flames rising. The others noticed as well.

"What's that?" Donald questioned. The flames became a bright blue and exploded into a torrent of white hot matter. My eyes widened and Kairi gasped.

"Oh my gosh." She murmured. We watched for a few moments until the fire suddenly went out. Then we continued up, confusion still in our thoughts. We reached the top of the castle and saw Xemnas standing at the edge, staring up at the moon.

"My Kingdom Hearts. You've come to unlock the door." he said turning to face me. I stared at him with wide eyes.

"What are you saying?" I demanded.

He laughed. "You, my dear, are the key to getting my heart back. Kingdom Hearts' incarnation." He stated. I couldn't breathe; there was a horrid pounding in my head and heart. I gasped and clutched erratically at my heart, falling to my knees.

The others called my name in blurred echoes. "Mori!" My vision started blotching out and I soon felt a stabbing pain in my chest. I heard screams from Kairi, Donald and Goofy and I looked down to see Xemnas' ethereal blade protruding from my chest. Blood spurted from my mouth and dribbled down my chin. He withdrew his blade and I fell back, everything felt like it was in slow motion. Soon everything went black when I hit the tile floor.

Where am I? All there is, is light. It's so bright, blinding… I could hear faint voices, but I couldn't make out words. I felt a numbing pain in my abdomen, but it didn't hurt as much as you would think. I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came.

"**For once, Kingdom Hearts has come through.**" A voice murmured in my head. I laughed.

"That was rude Yoko-chan." I stated recognizing her voice. I could tell she was startled, due to the fact it was silent for a moment.

"**Moriko, is that you?**" she asked me. I scoffed.

"No duh, Yoko. Who else would it be?" I replied.

"**Well for one, Kingdom Heart. Unless…**" she trailed off.

"Yeah, just found out I'm the incarnation of Kingdom Hearts, which is kind of why I'm bleeding." I responded laughing solemnly.

"**Well, this is an odd coincidence.**" She muttered. I smiled. Same old Yoko. She sighed. "**Mori-chan, is there any way you could get us out of here?**" She asked. I pondered on this. I felt like I could only have the power to move only the two of us.

"Only you and me. I won't be able to bring Sora and Riku." I replied sadly.

"**They can handle themselves.**" She told me.

"Alright." I stated. I felt a surge of strength in my being and a bright red light filled the white empty space I was in.

Then I felt a rush of cool air and the sound of waves hit my ears. I cracked open my eyes to see Yoko sitting beside me.

"Hey Mori-chan." She greeted me with a grin. I smiled.

"Hey Yoko. How ya been?" I questioned.

"Intrigued by a piece of information I got from Riku." She said grinning wolfishly. I raised a brow.

"What?" She laughed and leaned in closer.

"He~ loves~ you." She sang. I felt a horribly hot blush rise to my face.

"W-what?"

"He told me. He loves you." She stated again before glancing around the world. We were on a dark sandy beach at nighttime. But I returned my thoughts to Yoko's prior statement. Riku told her that he loves me? Then I decided to get it off my chest.

"Yeah, well Sora likes you! ~" I retorted. She stared at me with wide unbelieving eyes.

"What are you talking about?" she questioned. I smirked.

"Sora told us that he has feelings for you." I replied. Yoko stared at me with the blankest look I'd ever seen before giving me a sarcastic response.

"Yeah~ Right~" she drew out. I deadpanned and sighed at **her** obliviousness. And I thought Sora was oblivious.

"Denial won't help, Yoko." I retorted. She ignored me and turned around after hearing something that I didn't. I followed her gaze to see a bright light behind us.

"Come one, someone's coming, we need to hide." She whispered pulling me to a sand mound and we hid behind one of the many disfigured rocks. I nudged her side and pointed out two shadowy figures that just came out of the portal. I couldn't see who they were, only black silhouettes. Yoko smirked after tossing a pebble in the air back to her hand, which she picked up. She aimed and chucked it at the shorter figure's head. There was a faint thud and then a cry of pain. Bull's-eye.

"Ow! What the hell?" a voice whined. I sighed. I know that voice. Yoko and I looked at each other and leaped from our hiding spot. Yoko tackled Sora to the ground and yelled his name in glee. I rushed to Riku and hugged him tightly. I pulled away smiling brightly with relief and heard Sora choking on his own words underneath Yoko. Riku smirked and I snickered softly. She pouted and helped him up.

I decided to break the silence that had befallen us. "Is Xemnas…?" I trailed off.

"Yeah, he's gone." Sora stated. I felt a weight lifted off my mind and saw Yoko look at Riku. I raised a brow when I caught some pink tinge on Riku's face.

"Make a move before she dies man." Yoko stated plainly. And with that Riku's blush worsened tenfold along with one of my own. Yoko laughed maniacally and pushed us together, causing a kiss. I heard Sora have a freak out but it didn't matter to me. All I focused on was the sweet and simple kiss I was sharing with the guy I love. There was so much passion but it was lustful. We pulled apart and Riku rested his forehead against mine.

"I love you Moriko." He murmured into my ear. I smiled widely and heard Yoko speak to Sora.

"Do you see something in the water?" she asked. I figured she would push him in, but instead I saw Sora holding a bottle with a piece of rolled up paper inside it. He unrolled the paper and read the first line aloud.

"'Thinking of you wherever you are…'" he read. Realization lit up Yoko's face and I peered at her for a moment. A bright light filled my vision and I squinted seeing a portal to the light. Yoko smiled with relief and Riku spoke up.

"I think that's for us." He stated. Sora helped Yoko up from her seat on the dark sandy shore. Sora went through first and I walked beside Riku, our hands linked. I assumed Yoko followed right after us.

I then felt the impact of water at a high speed and struggled to get to the surface. I got out and took in a deep breath, looking around. I saw the others as well. We swam to the shore and met Kairi, Donald, Goofy and Mickey with smiles.

"We're back." Sora said to Kairi with a smile.

"You're home." She replied. I hugged her and we laughed together. We pulled away and I took in the image of our beloved home. Destiny Islands. Oh, it was good to be back. I looked at all of my friends smiling widely and noticed something was wrong. Horror filled me to the brim and I began looking around frantically.

"Gwarsh Moriko, what's wrong?" Goofy asked me. I gazed at my friends, tears blurring my vision of their faces. They analyzed me: teary eyes, red nose, shaking body.

"Where's Yoko?"

Hey hey. So I'm going to write the sequel to Burn and it is again in Yoko's pov, with a bit of third person, but mostly Yoko.

So R&R! Please! I want to know!

I **NEED** to know.

:3 Luka Grimm…


End file.
